Downtown record shops are musical treasure trove for avid listeners: Bob Berberich got into rock ’n’ roll early. Berberich, 70, had a sister who was five years older than he was, and she introduced him to the sounds of Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Elvis. And while rock ’n’ roll was famous for annoying parents, Berberich’s mother would hold sock hops in the living room of their Washington, D.C., rowhouse. It worked out well enough. Berberich became a professional drummer, playing in a band with future Bruce Springsteen guitarist Nils Lofgren and touring with a number of acts. Now he owns the East Patrick Street record store Vinyl Acres and serves as something of a mentor to the Frederick music community.
Record shop ties fate to downtown: It’s hip. It’s colorful. It has a logo that would hold its own in the most up-and-coming neighborhood of Brooklyn. It serves stacks of what hipsters dream of and would pair well with a craft beer, new restaurants, breweries, corn hole and some foot traffic. It’s Station Square Records, the only vinyl record store in Rocky Mount or the immediate beyond. And it’s open from Wednesday through Saturday at 301 South Church St., a colorful beacon in the middle of an otherwise sagging downtown setting. While reinforcements are on the way — a coffee shop is set for an April opening and Muttley Crew, a pet boutique to open next door, is also eyeing an April opening — along with a few other options, the shop has helped prop up the surrounding area.
Record Store Day 2018 in Nottingham – all you need to know: A never before told secret about Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band will be revealed at this year’s Nottingham Record Store Day, say event organisers. An as yet unnamed special guest will be sharing the revelation at Cobden Chambers, one of three city venues taking part in the annual nationwide event taking place this year on Saturday, April 21. Also taking part will be Stealth nightclub and music shop Rough Trade, which will be open from 6am for vinyl junkies hungry to get their limited edition fix. Last year several hundred collectors waited outside the record store’s doors to pick up LPs on sale for the event organised to promote the work of independent music retailers up and down the country. And this year there’s plenty to keep everyone happy too.
Def Leppard Announce ‘Volume One’, The First Of Four Planned Career-Spanning Box Sets: Legendary hard rockers Def Leppard release the appropriately-dubbed Volume One, the first salvo in their projected, four-volume career-spanning box set series, through Bludgeon Riffola/Mercury/UMe on 1 June. This first volume of the band’s complete recorded output comes in both limited edition 180g heavyweight vinyl and CD box sets, each featuring Def Leppard’s first four studio albums — along with some choice bonus live and studio material — all spread across 8LPs and 7CDs, respectively. The Volume One collection includes bonus material including Live At The LA Forum 1983, originally released as a bonus disc in the deluxe CD version of Pyromania, making this the first-ever vinyl offering of the complete show. This 2LP version comes with a new sleeve and inner bags.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Russ Solomon Interview: In a Web exclusive, we are reprinting an interview with late Tower Records and Video founder Russ Solomon, who died earlier this month. The interview appeared in the November 1990 issue of Video Store Magazine, under the headline, “A Towering Presence: Last month, Russ Solomon celebrated Tower’s 30th anniversary and made the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans. What’s he do for an encore?” “As near as I can figure, I’ve been in this business longer, continuously, than anyone I know of,” Solomon says. “Almost 50 years – jeez, it hardly seems possible.”
